Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Will minor runners finish race?
By Jun Ji-hye
Lee Jung-hee
By Jun Ji-hye
Will Lee Jung-hee, the presidential candidate of leftist Unified Progressive Party, and independent candidate Kang Ji-won complete the presidential race?
The question is surfacing as the two
Kang Ji-won
minor contenders could probably play a role in determining the winner of next week’s presidential election. In a Gallup’s poll on Saturday, Lee had a 0.8 percent support rate and former prosecutor and now youth mentor Kang received 0.5 percent.
Analysts say votes for the two minor candidates could become one important variable as the ruling Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye and her liberal rival Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party (DUP) are expected to remain in a neck-and-neck competition within the margin of error.
Park briefly widened the gap with Moon last week after former candidate Ahn Cheol-soo’s withdrawal from the race without achieving what he and the DUP candidate had called a “beautiful alliance.” But the gap started narrowing again after Ahn announced he would throw his full support behind Moon. Now the race is close again, according to a series of polls.
Whether Lee, who attacked Park in the first TV debate, will withdraw from the race is drawing keen attention. She is scheduled to participate in the second televised debate on Monday night.
Lee emerged as problematic in the first TV debate for both Park and Moon. She made indiscriminate attacks on Park, and that eclipsed Moon’s presence. Lee made it clear that her main purpose is “to make Park lose the election.”
Citing Lee’s remarks, analysts bet that she will withdraw her candidacy, mostly likely after completing the second TV debate Monday to give more votes to Moon.
“Lee will likely quit the race after the second debate if people again assess that Moon failed to present himself well,” said Chung Goon-gi, a professor at the Journalism and Media Department at Kyonggi University. “Otherwise, she will probably withdraw after completing the third and last debate in order to use it as an opportunity to promote her party.”
In comparison, Kang is more likely to stay the course as he has repeatedly told reporters that he will not quit.
“We are aware that some wonder if Kang will withdraw and declare his supports for a certain candidate but he will complete the race,” said Park Heung-sik, a staffer of Kang’s election camp.
In the meantime, the ruling Saenuri Party is seeking to revise related laws in order to ban a presidential candidate with less than a 15 percent support rate from participating in presidential TV debates.